1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an eco-driving assistance system and more particularly to an intuitive eco-driving assistance system directly prompting drivers to save energy according to road conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, vehicles consuming gas all face problems of skyrocketing fuel cost and increasingly strict exhaust emission standards. Hence, without exception, every car manufacturer aggressively develops new technique seeking to increase the utilization efficiency of gas and to reduce the exhaust emission of vehicles.
In this regard, latest techniques can be generally classified into two types, namely, one type of techniques focusing on improvement on manufacturing techniques of vehicles and the other type focusing on providing prompt notices to remind drivers of their fuel-wasting driving behaviors.
Although the type of techniques pertinent to improvement on manufacturing techniques of vehicles, such as engine systems with high combustion efficiency, low energy-consuming transmission system, lightweight materials for building vehicle body, hybrid gas-electric cars, kinetic energy recovery systems under braking, idle stop/start systems and the like, can reduce the fuel consumption and exhaust emission upon driving or at idle, the overall fuel consumption and exhaust emission of vehicles are still unsatisfactory if driving behaviors of drivers run counter to the rules of energy-saving operation, and the complication and production cost of vehicles is increased.
On the other hand, although the type of techniques providing prompt notices to remind drivers of their fuel-wasting driving behaviors, such as prompting drivers for instantaneous fuel consumption of vehicles and warning of high fuel-consuming driving behaviors through acquisition of vehicle body signals, engine signals, dynamic signals and analysis of driver's behavior model, allows drivers to be aware of current fuel-consuming condition of vehicles, suggestion or rearrangement in response to traffic conditions on the road fail to be immediately and accurately performed. In other words, drivers can receive the prompts only after the occurrence of fuel-wasting behaviors. Hence, such fuel-wasting driving behaviors still keep happening throughout the driving process. Besides, when a driver accelerates the car to overtake another car, it may trigger a false warning for a high fuel-consuming driving behavior.
As disclosed in China Patent Application No. CN200910191113 entitled “Vehicle safety and fuel conservation control assistance prompting system and method”, the prior art is characterized in that multiple vehicular sensors, such as steering angle sensor, throttle position sensor, brake sensor, slope sensor, acceleration sensor and the like, mounted on the vehicle body for a CPU to receive the signals of all sensors, analyze drivers' behaviors with dynamic signals of vehicle body and provide drivers instructions on how to turn the steering wheel and step on the accelerator pedal. The vehicle is structurally complicated arising from many sensors mounted thereon. As only passively receiving information of those sensors, the prompting system is unable to provide instruction for conserving fuel according to actual road condition.
From the foregoing, with improvement on manufacturing techniques of vehicles and prompt for drivers' fuel-wasting driving behaviors, fuel waste and exhaust emission of conventional vehicles can be partially reduced. However, the tradeoff is the requirement of multiple sensors mounted on vehicles to detect the states of vehicles, which causes the issue of structural complication and overall cost buildup. Additionally, the fuel-wasting conditions of conventional vehicles still depend on driving behaviors of drivers, and their fuel-wasting behavior prompting device can only passively provide fuel-wasting prompts according to road conditions and fails to immediately respond to road conditions and adjust the fuel-wasting driving behaviors of drivers. Therefore, the fuel-wasting drawback still exists.